*1. While passionate discussions and arguments are encouraged, insults and flames of any kind are prohibited. A violation of this rule in any way, shape or form will result in your first warning without any chance for appeal. "Flamebaiting" and "trolling" are expressly prohibited.

*2. Any harassment, via public posts or PMs, is prohibited.

**3. Absolutely no promotion of sites that lead to adult content (pornography). This not only includes public posts, but PMs and URLs in your profile. Links to pornographic websites or content will result in an instant, permanent ban with no chance of appeal. Links to sites with mostly general-audience content but some pornography will be treated on an individual basis : yes, it's okay to link to anime review sites that cover hentai as well, BUUUUT stuff like rotten-dot-com isn't so swell.

*3A. Explicit discussion of anime with pornographic content (hentai) is limited to adults only forums unless permission is requested and specifically granted by administration.

*4. Do not promote the practice of pirating or bootlegging or link to any sites that do so. This includes discussion of "warez" and hacking.

*4A. Promotion or encouragement of real-life illegal behavior in general (as opposed to simple discussion of such acts either in current events or in anime) will not be tolerated, with cases to be handled on an individual basis.

*5. Do not insult anyone's race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, beliefs, values, mother, etc. Excessive profanity is also prohibited. This includes explicit discussion of sexual or violent themes. You want to talk dirty? Do it somewhere else. (Exception for profanity: the Adults Only Forum)

*6. Spam in the form of: repetitive one-worders, repetitive emoticons, and unsolicited advertising of websites is prohibited.

**6A. Members who join specifically to put spam links in their profiles without posting or contributing to the boards will be immediately deleted, no questions asked. This includes advertising of services irrelevant to this website up to and including adult content.

**6B. Suspected spam accounts will be banned immediately upon detection, including IP block and email, and their ISP notified of abuse. All information pertaining to that account, including any posts will be purged. This is your only warning.

**6C. The ban on unsolicited advertising of websites extends to user profiles - you are more than welcome to link to your personal or even business website in your profile, but using your "favorite anime and manga" fields for linkspam is a no-no. There is a whole forum for site promotion.

7. Do not quote more than three posts at once. Nested quotes are difficult to read.

8. If you are posting spoilers of any sort, please place a warning before doing so.

*9. Do not register more than one username here. If this persists, particularly in cases where a user on the IP is under disciplinary action, the user's IP will be immediately banned. In rare cases, IP blocks will be banned - sock puppet accounts are NOT allowed here and will be immediately removed. This will result in a ban on both duplicate and original accounts of the offending party.

**9A. Suspected sock puppet accounts of already banned members will be banned and purged from the system, along with IP block ban. Harassment will be dealt with under the laws of the appropriate jurisdiction: in other words, just don't do it.

*10. Do not edit mod/admin notices. This will result in a double warning.

**11. Newbies who come on this board for the sole purpose of breaking any of these rules intentionally will be banned immediately. Violations of this rule will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

12. Banner and other image files are not allowed in post signatures. We still have users who rely on dial-up connections, and this slows the load time down to unacceptable levels. The only exception for now: smileys and other such emoticons -- limited to a total of five per signature.

*13. Directly challenging an admin or mod's authority to enforce any of these rules subsequent to a warning will result in additional strike, or further action up to and including an immediate ban, at the discretion of the admin.

14. Accounts that remain inactive for more than a year (ie zero post count in the period of a full year) will be deleted and purged from the system. Exceptions will be made for admins, moderators, and people who have stated reasons for inactivity (ie vacations, downtime, etc) and have notified staffers ahead of time.

*15. Avatar icons may not include any of the following: explicit nudity, pornographic imagery, real or fictionalized explicit violence (except animated slapstick comedy), textual profanity as per rule 5, racial epithets or racist imagery (ie the KKK, the Nazi swastika, etc). All avatars seen as violating the rules will be immediately removed and the poster will be given a private warning. Subsequent violations (restoring the avatar, etc) will result in official warnings and further disciplinary action.

*16. Disruptive behavior not otherwise specified within the rules may still result in disciplinary action. This includes repeatedly skirting the edges of the rules (ie "not-quite-pornography", "not-quite-flaming" etc) -- public warnings will be issued, at which point the violation falls under this category. If a user does not respond to public warnings, action will be taken, up to and including bans.

*17A: Anyone under 18 who falsifies age in order to access the adults only section of the boards will be banned. Honesty is the best policy, and patience is a virtue - please use both.

*17B: Anyone under 13 who falsifies age and/or parental permission in order to access these boards is in violation of COPPA and will be banned. Lying is bad, people. Just don't do it.

We reserve the right to maintain this site as we see fit. All admins and mods have the authority to enforce these rules. Any violation of these rules will result in a warning or board restriction, subject to individual scrutiny.

Major offenses (marked with an asterisk *) will lead to a warning, while minor offenses may lead to removal of the post or a verbal "pre-warning". An established pattern of minor offenses will count as a major offense.

Ignorance of the rules is no excuse, as all members are required to read them before signing up for the website.

The act of registering for the THEM Boards is considered an explicit acknowledgment and acceptance of the rules posted here.

Warning policy:

1. Strike 1 - User will be banned from board in which offense was committed for a small period of time.

2. Strike 2 - Access to public posting and/or PM messaging will be taken away for at least a week; this may be upgraded to a full BAN, if the offense is sufficient to deserve it (ie. flamebaiting, trolling).

3. Strike 3 - PERMANENTLY BANNED! Your board name (and all variants thereof), e-mail address, and IP will be banned from the forums without chance for appeal or reinstatement.

(thanks to purplehaze9 for the emergency rewrite!)

Other Suggestions and Tips for An Enjoyable THEM Boards Experience

These aren't hard and fast rules, merely guidelines to help you understand our forum before wading in.

Please use proper English to the best of your ability. Many of our readers and staff come from all around the world, and if they can use proper grammar and spelling, then native speakers should show proper courtesy and do so in return. l33t and slang are certainly allowed in limited amounts in proper context, but being excessively lax with spelling and grammar "because it's the Internet" is considered impolite and will be frowned upon.

While online quizzes are fun and amusing, there are a million and one of them out there. Since there are so many out there, posting quiz results can rapidly take over a message board and it essentially becomes just another variety of spam. If you feel you *must* post an online quiz result, please refer to the single thread offered for that purpose. New quiz result threads will be summarily deleted.

If you would like to be a pretentious elitist of any sort, you are technically allowed to do so, but we are obligated to remind you that it will make your THEM Boards experience nasty, brutish, and short.

Keep that icon size down! The max allowable size is 150x150, and that's being lenient. Try and keep it to about 100x100 or smaller -- icons are meant to identify you, not as a mural for the ages! If your icon is larger than this, it will be removed and you will be asked (nicely) to provide a smaller one.

While discussion about our reviews is always welcome, insinuating they are somehow "wrong" or need to be "changed" is considered in extremely poor taste and falls under the "flamebait" rule. Remember, reviews are opinions -- there is no such thing as a truly objective review. Not that this doesn't mean you can't disagree with our reviews and we certainly encourage second opinions! Just understand that we're not changing our existing reviews to suit anyone else's tastes, and that's final.

We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone -- in this case, the service we provide is a forum for you to interact with fellow anime fans from around the world. Abuse of this forum is not tolerated, since we feel that our readers are worth the time and effort it takes to make this a flame-war-free forum where people feel welcome. If you don't like the rules - well, the door's over there.

Seriously, as long as you treat other board members and THEM staff and reviewers with respect and civility, these rules shouldn't even be an issue. We're here to have fun, and enforcing rules isn't fun ... so don't break them, okay?

Update (12/17-2007): Since new anti-spam measures have been successfully implemented, the "post once" rule has been waivered. The member list may still be cleaned out every now and then for inactive accounts, though, but not nearly as frequently as before. If you do not feel like posting, then you can lurk in good conscience.

Although, just in case there are still human spammers around:Per rule 6A, members who post SPECIFICALLY to put spam links in their profiles will be deleted immediately, no questions asked.

Of course, active members who post frequently have already proven their good faith in being here -- this is obviously not aimed at you.

Update (10-17-2012): For the time being, all new accounts MUST be approved by an admin, due to a recent flood of Russian spam accounts. Spasibo, dasvedanya!

"Staying within the lines is nice, but it isn't enough." - Katou Marika, Bodacious Space Pirates

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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." - Robert A. Heinlein (as Lazarus Long), Time Enough for Love